Where is the love

I’m not asking because Russia invaded Ukraine. War is not only about missing love for fellow human beings. It would be too cheesy. It’s more about greed for power and territory. That’s bitter reality. I would have wanted to say excessive greed, but that would be redundant.

Greed is already excessive, wanting more than what we need. Which could have been at least tempered if only our culture dictates what is in excess of what we need is not ours. It belongs to those who need it, the voiceless and powerless to even ask for it. But some say humans by nature are selfish. But for many they call it self-preservation. They just stack for the future, not caring if they deny others their present.

Surprisingly, not everybody is. Otherwise there would not have been heroes, altruists who die so others may live. Especially those who die twice. First, when they die for their country. Second, when the country they die for forgets, or worse, bastardizes their memory. Or Mother Teresa, who showed the world in her lifetime and beyond that motherhood is not about giving birth to one human being. It is about kindness to all of humanity.

 And what does war have to do with sports anyway. Nothing really. Except that it is leverage to pressure invaders to back off, by banning athletes of invading country from competition, players who only wanted to compete for flag and country. And yes, personal glory. And money. Come on people, they gotta eat and more.

FIFA and UEFA slammed its doors on Russia and its soccer teams from all competitions. Including the World Cup, the ultimate sports spectacle probably greater than the Olympics and definitely greater than the NBA. This stings more than economic sanctions. Sports are about business, tourism and economy too. Look how cities, not countries, doggedly bid for the right to host the quadrennial games. It’s the color of money.

But tennis federations are less stringent. They still allow players from Russia to compete, but the country they must omit. I would have wanted to say they are kinder, but that would mean those who ban Russia the country are less kind. Or cruel. They are not. They just refuse to be complicit to the assault on humanity. And world peace, that standard two-piece answer of some pageant contestants crowned queens of beauty and nothing more. Of course peace does not mean tranquility. It means justice that kills, not humanity but inequality.

Silence and inaction empower the oppressor and the aggressor. The silent and the passive remove a layer of defense from the oppressed and the aggrieved. It makes them the quiet offender. No such thing as neutrality. Neutrals neuter dissent and feed oppression. But taking a stand is tricky. It requires enormous amount of responsibility to know and discern its basis – truth. This is where social media is misused and abused. It became the platform for opinion based on misinformation. Or vice versa. And stupidity is winning. Why would it lose when its army includes the learned who turn 360 degree in the name of love for country.